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Thread: What does Santa Claus look like?

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[quote=GUESTSC,386950]This is an old thread I know but I wanted to set a few things straight.

First, the name Santa Claus comes from the American corruption of how they heard the Dutch say Saint Nichols, (Sinterklaas) back during their colonial era. Wanting to have little to do with everything British they went with the Dutch culture and traditions. But they made it their own.

Secondly, Santa wearing red predates Coca-Cola, let alone their ad campaign. Early 1800s, although he did wear a variety of colors, red was a predominate one. Admittedly after Coke ads became wide spread, red was seen as about the only color Santa should wear by a majority of Americans. That preference would eventually spread to other countries. However, in Russia he is still usually seen wearing white.

So although Coke may have had a part in how Santa is seen today, they did not invent him nor change his appearance to suit their desires. They only focused on what they liked for their ads and it stuck.

Thirdly, Santa does live at the North Pole. But where exactly is that? Many have said "the North Pole" isn't an exact place but just in reference to the northern regions. There are those that say it is in Lapland, those that claim Greenland, or Canada, or Alaska. The mystery is on going. Maybe he has a place in all of them.

Lastly, to answer the original question of the thread, Santa can look a number of different ways. But there are certain things that will not change. Like the white beard and round belly for instance. (From the poem "A Visit From St. Nick".) Although the belly these days could be smaller than years past. These are things that are ingrained into the world wide conscious. Also seemingly required is fur. "From his head to his feet" as the poem goes. Down in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia, even in it hot days of Christmas, wants to see Santa wearing his traditional suit. In the US, southern parts of the country can be rather warm during November and December. Southern California, Arizona, Florida usually have most of its days being 70 - 80 F / 20 - 30 C. Too warm for fur, but the public still wants to see it. However I have seen a Claus Ambassador in California that wore shorts and a red Hawaiian shirt. Unfortunately it was not a big hit with the public.

Of course outside of the Christmas season Santa has been known to wear pretty much the same variety of clothing that anyone does. It is still Santa, because being Santa is about where your heart is. It really does go back to Saint Nicholas, even today.

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